The Muslim leaders maintain that the property in question belongs to the Waqf board.
Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — After a private house was reportedly converted to a mosque and donated to the Waqf board in Karnataka’s Belagavi, Hindu groups and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Sanjay Patil are demanding a mosque should not be allowed there.
The Hindu groups allege that a house in Sarathinagar of Belagavi has been turned into the ‘Fathima Masjid’. The area comes under the Belagavi Rural Assembly constituency. A meeting was reportedly held with locals and a movement to vacate the masjid from the locality has been started under the leadership of Patil.
Sri Ram Sena Founder Pramod Muthalik said “he has no objection to building a mosque according to law. But, he can’t agree with the conversion of a residential house into a mosque.” He has given one week’s deadline for the mosque.
As per IANS, locals alleged that the authorities have turned a blind eye to the development, accusing the Congress MLA of Belagavi Rural constituency Lakshmi Hebbalkar of pressurising the authorities not to take any action against the Fatima mosque.
“Locals said that complaints were raised for over one year, but no action was taken,” IANS reported.
As per the locals, the property was gifted by the owner to Moulana Abdul Kalam Educational and Charitable Society. However, it was converted into a mosque. A notice has been issued by the corporation regarding the building license violation and carrying out religious activities on the property meant for residence, reported the news agency.
The corporation has now issued a notice regarding the building license violation and carrying out religious activities on the property meant for residents. The Muslim leaders, however, maintained that it was the property of the Waqf board.
Notably, Belagavi is a stronghold of the ruling BJP. In the 2018 elections, the party won 10 of the 18 seats in the district. As the state is scheduled for assembly elections in May this year, the BJP will be trying to stay in power.
Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz_